


A Sweet Poison

by TheDVirus



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Feels, Gunplay, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Infection, Injury Recovery, Jealousy, Love, Love Confessions, Love Triangles, Love/Hate, M/M, Mind Control, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Nygmobblepot, True Love, True Love's Kiss, Virus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-03
Updated: 2017-06-03
Packaged: 2018-11-08 12:45:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11081862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDVirus/pseuds/TheDVirus
Summary: Ed gets infected with the Tetch Virus and lures Oswald into a trap. But the hidden parts of Ed that the virus causes to surface may not be what either of them expected...As requested by many of you on Tumblr including @mymycorrhizae and @nygmobblespot.





	A Sweet Poison

‘Isabella?!’ Ed gasped.

Isabella smiled at him.

‘Hello Edward’.

Ed swallowed hard.  
This couldn’t be happening!  
The cold, bloodied and bruised corpse he had identified as Isabella in the GCPD all those weeks ago could not be the same person standing front of him now.  
But her voice, her clothes and how she moved as she came towards him were too exact. He babbled, unsure of which road of questioning to explore first.

'Oh my', Isabella breathed, looking his suit up and down, 'You look so handsome'.

It must be a hallucination. It wasn’t the only explanation but it seemed the most likely.  
But…he had never hallucinated Isabella before. Why now?

‘But, how-?’ Ed managed to stammer.

Isabella hushed him, placing a fingertip on Ed’s lips.

'Do you still love me Edward?' she asked.

'I…’

Ed couldn’t help but hesitate as an image of Oswald in a top hat and tuxedo surfaced in his mind. He blinked hard to dispel it.

‘Of course I do', he said, proud at how normal his voice sounded even as his uneasy mind raced, trying to figure out how Isabella could be there.

'Oh Edward', Isabella sighed delightedly, throwing her arms joyfully around him.

Ed felt the pressure of Isabella’s arms around his neck. So she wasn’t a hallucination. An actress? A clone? Isabella resurrected somehow for an unknown purpose? Had Oswald sent her as some form of torture? Or as a spy? 

'If only I could believe you', Isabella said, in a voice suddenly bereft of warmth.

Ed gasped as he felt a sudden, sharp jab in his neck. Isabella smiled with cold eyes as she showed Ed the empty syringe in her hand.

‘But I will’, she continued.

Ed gasped again as he felt his blood begin to boil and cold sweat pour from his skin. His muscles spasmed and his legs felt weak. He grabbed a nearby chair for support as he felt a strange exhilaration run like needles up his spine and his head flood with a bizarre, almost weightless calm.

Isabella gazed lovingly into his wide, brown eyes as crimson began to bleed from their centres. She wasn’t afraid. Edward would never hurt her: he loved her too much.

'It's okay Edward’, she said soothingly, stroking his face, ‘It's not a full dose. Just a little pick me up to make sure you're strong enough for what comes next. Then we can finally be together like we were meant to be’.

She grabbed his face and forced him to look at her, her nails digging into his cheeks.

‘You need to kill Oswald Cobblepot’.

 

Oswald made his way carefully through the silent zoo.  
Ivy had chosen the derelict site as a base for her botanical experiments. Oswald had asked if she could perhaps move her plants from the zoo’s disused greenhouse to a more appealing environment but Ivy had argued against the idea and proceeded to list a variety of reasons to keep them where they were. When she had moved from ‘they’re more used to the soil here’ to ‘I don’t think they’d germinate well with the others’, Oswald had told her she could keep them wherever she wanted as long as she (and her friends) were happy.  
Despite his distaste for the ruined zoo however, he was intrigued by Ivy’s experiments, so when he had received a message from her asking him to come and see her latest creation, he had come straight over.  
He turned a corner and saw the archway he was looking for.  
A polar bear statue towered over a large sign reading ‘Arctic World’.  
Oswald was a bit confused by Ivy’s change on locale (they usually met in the greenhouse) but was willing to acquiesce to Ivy’s rendezvous point. Perhaps this new flower needed cool temperatures rather than the heat of a greenhouse?  
The door was unlocked and Oswald followed the signs for the penguin show arena.  
He entered the open area and looked around for Ivy.

Above him was a circular gallery designed for zoogoers to watch the penguins perform below them. Large white pillars supported the roof and artificial ice floes floated on the numerous, deep manmade pools set into the floor.  
The room was dimly lit by the odd sight of numerous candles arranged at strategic points around the enclosure.  
Oswald felt unease begin to raise the hairs on the back of his neck.

‘Ivy?’ Oswald called.

He heard a squeak and saw Ivy emerge from behind a large rock at the other end of the enclosure.  
But she wasn’t alone.  
Edward Nygma emerged behind her, a gun pointed at her back.

Oswald’s heart sank as he realised he had left his gun in the car. 

‘Sorry Penguin’, Ivy cried, ‘He grabbed me in the greenhouse and this weird lady took my phone-‘

Ed silenced her by pointedly placing the gun under her chin.

‘Never mind the ‘whos’, ‘hows’ and ‘whens’’, Ed said, ‘At this point I’m sure he’s more concerned about the ‘whys’.

He turned his attention to Oswald but kept the gun pointed at Ivy.

‘It must be so nice to just get yourself a new best friend just like that. Another person who dragged you out of a gutter and showed you kindness you didn't deserve’.

‘Takes one to know one’, Oswald retorted, ‘Remind me, who got you out of Arkham?’

‘And for what? So you could lie to me and manipulate me? Pretend we were friends?!’

‘We _were_ friends!’ 

‘Shame it wasn’t enough for you’, Ed said coldly, ‘You broke my heart Oswald. So now I'm going to break _you’._

Oswald gave a low laugh, amused by Ed’s melodramatic pronouncement. 

‘You already tried’, he said, ‘By the way, do you like Ivy’s perfume?’

Ivy shook her head meaningfully and Oswald’s eyes narrowed in confusion.  
Ed laughed.

‘Not really’, he said, tilting his head cockily, ‘She’s not my type’.

Oswald blanched as he saw Ed’s eyes flash blood red for a moment as they caught the light. He knew better than to fool himself into thinking it was a trick of the light. He knew the effects of the Tetch Virus when he saw them. The explanation for why Ed had been unaffected by Ivy’s perfume made Oswald feel worse, not better.

‘Speaking of which, you can go now’, Ed continued, turning his attention back to Ivy, ‘Nobody likes a third wheel’.

Ivy swallowed as the gun was removed from its threatening position. Ed shoved her forward and after a moment’s hesitation, she ran towards Oswald.  
Both of them were surprised and relieved when no shot rang out.  
It seemed Ed was sincere.

‘I’'ll go get some friends to help', Ivy whispered as she passed Oswald.

Oswald nodded once to show he understood.

Once Ivy had passed beneath the archway, Ed pressed the button on the remote control he had been concealing in his jacket.  
Oswald’s head swivelled as a harsh grating noise rang out. A metal grate slammed down from overhead, sealing the exit. Oswald met Ivy’s helpless look as she pulled on the grate on the other side. She threw up her hands and Oswald shook his head resignedly. He was trapped in the enclosure with Ed.  
Ivy got the message and ran down the corridor, resuming her mission to gather reinforcements.

Oswald knew he didn’t stand a chance against Ed with the virus in his system. Provided he even got close enough to enter a physical fight.  
Ivy had gone to get help: all Oswald had to do was keep Ed busy. Technically he didn’t need to fight Ed. Just stay alive by distracting him until Ivy returned. And if there was one thing Ed loved to do, it was talk.

'Why here?' Oswald asked conversationally to hide his nervousness.

'I wanted you to feel at home', Ed replied with mock sincerity, his voice echoing off the white walls.

Oswald looked around and once again, couldn’t help but notice the multitude of candles set up in aesthetically pleasing positions. The tense situation combined with the calming effect of the candlelight reflecting off the glistening ice was jarring.  
It was almost…romantic.  
Just another one of Ed’s mind games.

'How did you get infected?' Oswald asked, beginning to walk slowly around the enclosure.

It was partly to feign fearlessness but also to surreptitiously check for any other potential exits.

'What makes you think I didn't take it willingly?' Ed replied, dark eyes tracking Oswald’s movements.

'Because you're not an idiot'.

Oswald couldn’t help but feel a spark of satisfaction at the way Ed’s bloodied eye twitched at the insult.

'You don't understand-' Ed began but Oswald interrupted.

'Spare me the whole 'I'm not crazy I’m free' nonsense’, he said, waving a hand dismissively, ‘You're sounding like Barbara Keane'.

Ed inhaled slowly and fixed his glasses: an obvious physical indication that he was trying to control his temper.

'I was _going_ to say’, he corrected, ‘'You don't understand, the virus also improves physical attributes’’.

With an audible click, he released the safety on his pistol.

‘Like aim', he said with relish.

Oswald ducked behind a pillar just as Ed pulled the trigger. Oswald saw the bullet impact off the enclosure wall. He had dodged for nothing: even if he hadn’t ducked, it wouldn’t have gotten close!

'Apparently not that much!' Oswald shouted from the safety of his refuge, 'Then again you couldn't kill me at point blank range! Or were you just not trying?!’

He picked up a nearby rock and threw it far to his right.  
He heard Ed spin at the sound and the gun discharge, then a quiet curse as Ed realised he had been tricked.

'What's the matter Edward?’ he taunted, ‘Jumpy?'

'Excited. I've been waiting for this for a long time'.

'That we can both agree on', Oswald said, moving to the next pillar along, heading towards the water.

'You must know you don't stand a chance. You're all alone down here'.

'What does that make you then?! Who do you have in your corner Edward?'

'I thought I had you. Look how that turned out'.

'You're the only one still crying about that Edward!' Oswald yelled, wincing as he slid into the water  
He began to swim slowly with his head down so as not to alert Ed to his flanking manoeuvre and threw another rock.

Ed spun on his heel as he heard another noise but stopped himself from pulling the trigger this time.  
Bored of Oswald’s games, he increased his idle walk to a focused half run as he moved towards the pillar he presumed Oswald was hiding behind.

'Stop calling me that!’ he shouted, ‘You will address me as ‘The Riddler!'’

'Why do you care so much about me using that ridiculous name Edward?!'

'Because it's who I am!' he angrily retorted.

'Forgive me if I'm not keen to play along with your little game of dress up!’ Oswald replied snidely, ‘To me, you'll always be nervous, jittery, lonely, Edward Nygma!'

'And that's why you have to die', Ed pronounced and jumped around the pillar, gun ready.

Oswald wasn’t there.  
Ed suddenly heard a noise in the water behind him and felt a grip on his ankles. He had just enough presence of mind to drop the gun onto the floor before he was yanked beneath the surface.

Oswald kicked off the wall of the pool and dragged Ed into the water with him. He pushed Ed’s head down as he tore his jacket open. Reaching inside, he grabbed the remote and kicked Ed in the stomach before he could recover from the disorientation of the freezing water.

Oswald clambered out of the pool, clothes sopping wet and pressed the remote button, praying it had been undamaged by the water. Only the light on the left hand side of the archway went green. The light on the right stayed red. Oswald smacked the remote and jabbed it again but the left light turned red once more. He pressed it again to turn it back to green and cursed. Some kind of infernal puzzle to figure out?!

‘You need both to open it’, a chirpy female voice rang out, ‘And it doesn’t open until _you_ die!’

Oswald strained as he looked into the dark, seemingly empty gallery above, trying to see where the voice had come from but Ed, now free of the water, grabbed him by the throat and tossed him to the ground like a ragdoll.  
The remote went flying out of Oswald’s grasp as he landed hard on his bad knee and the wind was knocked out of him.  
As he struggled to rise, Ed pushed him down and straddled him.  
Oswald snarled up at Ed as Ed used one hand to pin his shoulder and the other to point his retrieved gun directly between Oswald’s eyes.  
Ed leant in close, water dripping from his face onto Oswald’s.

'Call me ‘The Riddler', he hissed through clenched teeth.

Oswald glared up at him but did not answer.

'Call. Me. The. Riddler', Ed repeated.

'Sorry to disappoint you’, Oswald said hoarsely, ‘Hopefully my blood on your hands will make you feel better. It did before right?'

'Stop talking like I'm the one to blame! You deserved to die! You betrayed me!'

Oswald incensed by the truth in Ed’s words strained to try and bite into his face. Ed recoiled from Oswald's animalistic attack.

'If I deserve it then why haven’t you pulled the trigger?!’ Oswald spat, ‘The universe keeps giving you chances but for some reason you just won't kill me! Or maybe you just _can’t!_ Riddle me that Ed!'

'Are you so eager to die that you want to taunt a man with a loaded gun pointed right at your face?! You've never cared how I feel before!’

'I did once', Oswald said quietly, genuinely confused as to why he was still alive, 'Why bring me here if you're not going to kill me?'

Ed gave an odd shudder but then spoke in an almost robotic voice.

‘I can’t be bought but I can be stolen with a glance. I am worthless to one, yet priceless to two’. 

Oswald’s eyes widened. Ed shook his head as if awaking from sleep and returned Oswald’s shocked gaze.  
As a result, he didn’t see Oswald’s knife until it was too late.

Oswald stabbed the switchblade he had taken from his trouser pocket into Ed’s gloved hand and twisted it.  
Ed yelled in pain and dropped the gun reflexively.  
As he sat up, aghast at his damaged hand, knife still sticking up between his knuckles, Oswald took advantage of Ed being off balance and shoved him off.  
Ed landed hard, feeling immense pain in his hand despite the virus as well as a mixture of relief and further agony as Oswald wrenched the knife free.  
Ed grasped his wounded hand and did not resist as he felt himself yanked to his knees.  
Through the red mist of pain, he looked up to see Oswald glaring down at him. His breath hitched as he felt the knife at his throat and blood run down his neck from where Oswald had cut his neck. It was a warning graze and the pressure of the knife edge demonstrated how easy it would be for Oswald to finish the job.  
Oswald was breathing heavily, his cheeks coloured from the physical exertion and his face a mask of anger, bafflement and something Ed couldn’t quite place.  
It was so familiar that Ed couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

'Why the Hell are you laughing?!' Oswald demanded, confused by the whole scenario.

Ed could easily fight him off. So why was he just kneeling there laughing?! People infected with the Tetch Virus were usually highly aggressive and slaves to their darker impulses that the virus brought to light.  
What had it brought out in Ed?

'Brings back memories’, Ed replied, voice heavy with nostalgia, ‘I told you once that love was a weakness'.

'I remember’, Oswald said, wary of any subterfuge on Ed’s part and also of potential interference from his mystery helper above them, ‘Is this where I’m supposed to be impressed by how very right you were?'

'I _was_ right but I’m not talking about you'.

'Why did you ask me that riddle just now?' Oswald demanded, wrong footed by Ed’s resignation and odd behaviour.

'You know why', Ed said quietly.

 _‘So this is it’_ , he thought, _‘The moment of truth’._

Some infectees had their anger, inadequacies or jealousies amplified by the virus: the parts of themselves they didn’t want to see.  
In Ed’s case it seemed that the virus was forcing him to use his riddles to reveal himself rather than hide. Oswald would soon know the truth. All of it.

'I want to hear you say it', Oswald said, as if daring Ed to admit it had been a poor joke.

Ed answered without hesitation.

'Because I love you'.

Oswald gasped at the words but his eyes hardened and his grip tightened on Ed’s collar.  
Ed’s face was calm and his tone was measured. The absence of spite or dishonesty in his words baffled Oswald. It was if Ed was telling the truth.

'Why are you telling me this now?!' Oswald asked, ‘Hoping I’ll spare your life?!’

'I’m telling you because it's true', Ed said simply.

'No it's not!’ Oswald shouted, ensuring the knife was as close to Ed’s neck as it could be without slicing it open.

'You know it's true’, Ed replied with quiet defiance.

‘No it's not because it _can't be!’_ Oswald shouted, louder this time.

Oswald’s echoes gradually died away but Ed paid them no mind. He was looking at Oswald if they were having a polite discussion about the weather. The only indication of his turbulent mental state was the almost delirious look in his dark, tar like eyes.

'Crazy isn't it?' Ed asked.

Oswald shook his head, trying to reconcile his unexpected and unwelcome happiness at Ed's confession with the rage festering inside him.

'So, what?!’ he snarled, ‘You expect me to love you back after you destroyed my empire and tried to murder me?!'

'No. I expect you to kill me'.

Ed’s eyes widened as the words left his lips and he felt tears of sheer relief begin to spill over from his eyes.  
He didn’t look at Oswald. Even as he felt himself begin to weep, his iron clad restrictions on his emotions and true feelings destroyed by the virus, he kept talking. 

‘That's why I brought you here. I can't do this any more Oswald. I shouldn't love you but I do. I can't help it. I should want to kill you, kill the weak part of me for good but-but I just _can’t!’_

He looked up at Oswald. He couldn’t read his expression but took his silence as an invitation to continue. Ed didn’t think he could stop even if Oswald jammed the knife into his mouth.

‘Don’t you understand?! I need you to call me ‘Riddler’ because every time you call me ‘Edward’ or ‘Ed’ I just want things to go back to how they were when we were together!’

He looked down despondently.

‘But we can’t, can we? We’re trapped like this: at each other’s throats. I can’t kill you but I can’t live with you hating me. It was quite the riddle. Until the virus gave me the answer. It was so simple too! I have to die’.

He laughed bitterly, his chest aching with the exertion and with heartbreak.

‘You know how it feels when you have an answer on the tip of your tongue but you just can’t reach it?’

Ed closed his eyes and raised his head, ready for the knife to be drawn across his throat.  
His eyes snapped open as he heard the knife fall to the floor.  
Oswald knelt down so he was facing Ed.  
Ed’s eyes widened as he saw Oswald was crying too. He swallowed as Oswald reached and wiped away a tear from his cheek.

‘I know exactly how it feels’, Oswald whispered and kissed Ed on the lips.

Ed’s eyes closed automatically and he moaned in both ecstasy and sorrow. It was only a light kiss but Ed felt as if the warmth was suffusing his whole body. It felt almost physically painful but was simultaneously an incomparable release: like a bad tooth finally being pulled out.  
The pain Ed had been carrying around with him, the loss and loneliness melted away like frost as he felt Oswald stroke his cheek lovingly.

Oswald pulled away and leant his forehead against Ed’s. He watched as the crimson faded from Ed’s brown eyes.

'Who gave you the virus Ed?' Oswald asked calmly.

 

Ed’s eyes flicked to the upper gallery.  
Isabella, an unseen witness to the whole interaction between Ed and Oswald, was leaning on the railing and even from a distance, Ed could see her knuckles were white as she gripped it. He saw her straighten. pull a gun from her coat and aim it at the two of them.  
At Oswald’s back.

_Love is sacrifice._

Ed spun Oswald around on reflex just as the gun went off.  
Looking into Oswald’s surprised face, Ed smiled as he reflected on how the only time he felt certain of anything was when he was with him. Things felt 'real'.  
Like the bullet tearing through his back at that very moment.

 

No! How could it be going so wrong?!  
Isabella ran from the railing towards the stairwell leading down, readying her own remote to open the second lock on the gate.  
Oswald Cobblepot had to die! He had to pay for trying to destroy Edward’s love for her! Then she and Edward could be together.  
Even if it was in death.  
Isabella reached the bottom of the stairs and turned to run for the enclosure entrance.

'Hey Isabelle!'

Isabella turned automatically at the unfamiliar voice and coughed as a sudden cloud of vapour was sprayed in her face.  
Ivy watched with satisfaction as her perfume took hold.  
In her arms she was clutching the ‘help’ she had told Oswald she was going to fetch: several rare and useful plants from the zoo greenhouses. She had been tempted to use their vapours to knock Nygma and his lady friend unconscious but she wanted information first.  
That virus was bad news and she doubted her friends (powerful though they were) would be able to help with it in Nygma’s system.

‘You wouldn't dose Nygma unless you knew how to fix him right?’ Ivy asked.

Isabella smiled dreamily and reached inside her coat. She held up a syringe containing a blue liquid.

‘Once Penguin’s dead I'll fix Edward’, she whispered, face rapt, ‘I’ll fix him and once he sees Penguin’s dead, we can be together. He won’t be able to live with himself. We can die right here in each other’s arms with the candles and the ice and the stars above us. Just like Romeo and Juliet's tomb. It’s going to be so beautiful. People will talk about it forever. Our eternal love’.

‘Okay’, Ivy said, scowling, ‘One, I didn’t ask and two, that’s _really_ creepy. Gimme’.

Isabella held out the cure and Ivy snatched it.

‘You know what to do’, she said dismissively and began to pelt back down the corridor to where she had left Penguin.

Isabella smiled as she watched her go and continued to do so, even as she raised her own gun to her temple and pulled the trigger.

 

Oswald jumped at the distant noise of a gun going off but discounted it as he realised Ed’s eyes were starting to close again.

‘Stay awake Ed!’ he snapped, slapping him lightly on the face, ‘How do we open the gate?! Come on!’

‘I-I’m…so…sorry’, Ed breathed, reaching up for Oswald.

Oswald cringed as he felt blood from Ed’s glove stain his cheek. He had done that to him. Just another mistake he couldn’t fix!  
His jaw tightened.  
No. He would fix it!  
Where the Hell was Ivy?!

‘Oh no you don’t get off that easily!’ he said, shaking Ed to keep him conscious, ‘Where’s the other remote?!’

‘Isa-‘ Ed began but was overcome by a coughing fit.

Oswald raised Ed into a sitting position and placed a hand on his back. He felt warm wetness beneath his hand, a stark contrast to the cold water which suffused Ed's clothing. He could smell the blood but forced his panic down as he kept his hand over the wound.  
All that mattered was Ed.

Ed, wavering on the boundary of unconsciousness heard the telltale sound of high heels clicking from somewhere down the corridor. He tried to warn Oswald that Isabella was coming but no longer had the energy to form words. It was too hard to get his breath.  
Even with the virus, Isabella’s aim had been perfect.  
The bad thing about being in forensics was you knew when too much damage had been done: Ed knew he was dying.  
Somehow he found the strength to smile even as he felt Oswald’s tears falling onto his face. They felt soothing and cool on his feverish skin.  
Why was Oswald crying? Ed felt perfectly calm. Happier in fact than he had felt in weeks.  
Oswald knew how he really felt and now Ed was spending his last moments with him.  
Exactly what the virus had told Ed he had wanted all along.  
Oswald’s pallid, concerned face began to waver as darkness began to swallow Ed’s vision. He felt his head falling back and Oswald’s voice began to sound as if he were underwater.

_‘Ed?! Don’t leave me! I love you! Ivy? Hurry! He’s hurt! You’re gonna be okay Ed! Ed? ED?!'_

 

The rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor was not the welcome to the afterlife Ed had been expecting.  
Cracking open one eye, he was also surprised to be confronted by a veritable jungle of foliage. The room was warm like a greenhouse and the air was perfumed by many floral scents intermingling.  
He felt sore all over and as he stirred, a stabbing pain in his back stopped him from trying to rise. 

He felt strange.  
Cleansed but also lighter despite the numerous aches he could feel throughout his body. The chemical tang in his mouth, the tension in his muscles and the buzzing noise in his head were all gone: the Tetch Virus was no longer in his system.

He realised he was in a bed and hooked up to a nearby IV. An unidentified green liquid was being fed into his veins through his wrist.  
The cure? Or some kind of medicine?

His theorising was halted when he realised Oswald was holding his hand.

Oswald was sitting in a chair beside the bed but was fast asleep. His arms were crossed beneath his head where it rested on the bed.  
How long had he been sitting there?

Ed squeezed Oswald’s hand and though Oswald did not wake up, Ed saw the ghost of a smile trace across Oswald’s face.  
In the dim light of the room, Oswald’s pale skin was almost luminescent and Ed’s heart fluttered as he spoke.

‘Love you’, Oswald breathed, voice heavy in slumber.

It was so peaceful that Ed was unsure if he was actually awake but, feeling Oswald’s hand on his, for the first time in weeks, Ed felt glad to be alive.

He lay back and closed his eyes, content to dream a little longer.

‘I love you too’, he replied.

It didn’t matter if Oswald heard him or not.  
What mattered was it was true.


End file.
